Quick-release clothes wringer



Sebi. 2 1924 LEZZS S. BONA QUAICK RELEASE CLOTHES WRINGER Filed Aug. 15. 1921 INVENTOR. Jfela/ef? Zio/2a Patented Sept. 2, 1924.

UNITED STATES STEPHEN BONA, OF UNION CITY, CONNECTICUT.

QUICK-RELEASE CLOTHES WRINGER.

Application filed August 15, 1921. Serial No. 492,226.

.To @ZZ whom t may concer/1t Be it known that I, STEPHEN Bona, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Union City, county of New Haven, and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Quick-Release Clothes V'Vringers, of which the fol-l i. an attachment of this nature which will be 'cheap to manufacture, simple, strong, easy to operate, durable, and' practically foolproof in use.

With this and other objects in view, there vare illustrated in the accompanying drawings two forms in which the invention) may beconveniently embodied in practice.

Fig. A1 represents a front view of a, complete ywringer, showing the improved attachment in place.

Fig. 2 is a side view of the wringer, partly in section, showing the wringerrolls in closed position.

Fig. 3 is a view of the wringer, similar to Fig. 2, but with the wringer-rolls in openl position, and showing a fabric in place therebetween.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the quick release attachment separated from the ,wringen 4 Fig. '5 is a rear perspective view of one end of a modified form of quick-release attachment. l

Referring now to the drawings, in which `.similar numerals denote corresponding parts throughout the several views, the upper and lower wringer-rolls 1 and 2, which areprefera-bly formed of rubber, are carried by the mandrels or cylinders l3 and 11. V,The upper roll is pivoted at its ends 5, 5

gJAin the two upper rollbearing arms 6, 6;

while the lower roll 2 is similarly pivoted at its ends 7, 7 in the two lower roll-bearing arms 8, 8, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3. The roll-bearing arms 6 and 8, at the left-hand end of the wringer, are pivotally connected together by the short pin 9, as shown in Fig. 1; the roll-bearing arms 6 and 8 at the right-hand end of the wringer are similarly connected by the short pin 10. The wringer is preferably driven by hand power and for this purpose the lefthand ends and 7 of the upper and lower rolls are provided with meshing gears 11 and 12 respectively. rllhe gear 12 is directly driven by the driving shaft 13, which is an extension of the left-hand end of the lower roll 7. This shaft 13 has rigidly mounted 'thereon a crankr or handle 14, detachably secured in place by means of the nut 15, screwed upon the end 16 of the shaft 18. As will be evident, this arrangement permits the handle 14 to be readily removed whenever it is desired to substitute power from mechanical sources-in which case the power may be transmitted to the shaft 13 by a pulley, an electric motor, or other suitable mechanism.

The usual drain-board 17 extends the full length of the wringer, and is secured at each end by the ears 18, 18, attached to the tubclamps 19, 19 by the screws 20, 20. This drainboard 17 is preferably made of mal? leable iron, but may be constructed of any other suitable material if desired, such as wood, tin, etc.

Each of the tub-clamps 19 is U-shaped, and consists of two vertical legs 2Oa and 21, and an intermediate base section 22, the base section being enlarged, and provided with a cylindrical bearing for the vertical roll adjusting shaft or standard 23, as will be hereinafter more fully described. The front vertical leg 20a of the tub-clamp is also enlarged, and is internally threaded to receive the tubrlamping screw 211, which has the disc-shaped shoe swiveled to its inner endl. An adjusting hand-wheel 26 is also provided integral with vthe tubclamping screw 24C and located at its outer end. By turning this hand-wheel 26the shoe 25 may be moved toward or away from the rear vertical leg 21, which is preferably' rigid and non-adjustable, and any deired pressure may be thus exerted on the tu. 7

Each of the standards is firmly an chored upon the intermediate section 22 of the tub-clamp 19 by means of the lockl nuts 26a and 27 on the corresponding side of the wringer, located respectively above and below said intermediate section' 22. A washer 28 is preferably located between the lower nut 27 and the intermediate section 22. i

Mounted in spaced relation on the shaft 23, immediately above the to-p lock-nut 26a,

' are the enlarged annular seats of the rollbearings, lthe opposite faces of said annular seats being raised slightly from they remainder of the roll-bearings, as shown,

The lower roll-bearing faceJ rests lfirmly upon the top of the nut 26a; while the face on the upper roll-bearing forms a seat forl the lower end of the s'piralpressure spring 29, the'tension of which may be slowly adjusted by the upper hand-wheel 30, which is preferably knurled, threaded upon the upper end of the standard 23. The pressure from this hand-wheel 30 may be trans- `mittedfto the spring 29 through a spring block 31 which has Aa flanged lower portion provided with a shouldered seat 32 forthe upper end ofthe spring. This ar- Irangement of yparts is clearly shown in Fig. .3,fwhere it will be evident that if the hand-wheel v30 is screwed downwardly on the'fl-shaft 23', the tension ofthe spring`29- and V'cmsequently the pressure between the wringer-rolls-,will be slowly increased.

vi-lclfslovv release of .the pressure on the rolls Elvide yfor such emergencies, the quick-release attachment now to be described, has been provided.

This vquick-release attachment comprises a cross-,arm 36 vextending from oneside of Lthefwringer to the other, and having at each enda pair of downwardly projecting lugs 33A and 34. Said lugs 33 and y34 have slot-s in ytheir lower .portions adapted to slide down over pintles 35 formed on the opposite flat faces ofthe spring-blocks 31. Afterv being thusslid into position, the` ends ofthe lugs are swaged `slightly about the 4pintles to lock them lpermanently in position. lThe cross-arm 36 is preferably horizontal near itsends, but is curved upwardly at the center andhasits edges rounded so as to afford la smooth grip `for the hand of the user.

As clearly illustrated in Fig. 4, .the lugs 33and 34 are connected only at their forward parts, and are open at their yrearportions. Thisconstruction permits the crossarm to swing forwardly about its pivots 35, without interference with the adjusting shaft 23. f

The upper ends of the lugs 33 and 34 are raised slightly to form cams 37 and 38, which ride upon the hand-wheel 30 when the vcross-arm is rocked forward to release the pressure on the rolls. Thus the crossarm 36 with its associated lugs 33 and 34 serves asa trip, `which when actuated, suddenly releases the tension of the springs.

pull it forwardly and downwardly .to Ithe position shown in Fig. 3. This movement of the cross-arm will trip the spring-blocks 3i, and allow them to rise under the pressure of the springs 29 to the open position illustrated in Fig. 3. When in this open position, therolls may be readily separated, as shown, to permit the clothes to be removed. When it is desired to again putpressure on the rolls, the hand-wheels 25,',at each ,end5 of the wringer, are unscrewed `,sufficiently to permit the lugs o-n the cross-,arm to be easily sprung into the normal closed position; after which .the hand-wheels are `screwed down again till the. rolls are brought to the desired tension. u

In the modification illustrated in F'ig..5, a device is shown which will not only' vquickly release the pressure' on the rolls,fbut"will also instantly restore it to its original ten* sion. This device is similar in construction to the quick-release attachment disclosed in Figs. l-4, but differs therefrom in having `rear cam portions 39 and 40 joined Itoits top cam sections 37 and 38 so as to vform'con'timious cam surfaces from the tops to the'bottoms of the lugs 33 and 34. To yrelease the pressure on the rolls of a wringer towhich this attachment has been applied, the crossarm is rocked vfrom the full-line tothe dotted position of Fig. 5. Torestore the pressure the hand-.wheels 25 do not have to be unscrewed, but it is merely necessary to rock the cross-arm back upon its pivot fromthe dotted (released) position to the full line (closed) position.

While there have been disclosed in this specification, two forms in which this invention may be embodied, itis to be understood that these forms are shown for the purpose of illustration only, and that the invention is not to be limited to these specified disclosures but may be modified or embodied in various other forms without departing from its spirit; in short, the invention includes all izo.

the modifications coming within the scope of the following claims.

Having thus `fully described the invention, what is claimed las new, and for which it is desired to secure Letters Patent, is

l. In a clothes-wringer, a. frame, a pair of rolls mounted in said frame,-a pair of standards connected to said frame, helical springs surroimding Asaid standards for pressing said rolls together, a cross ,arm exitending between said standards, a pair of lugs on said cross arm, a pair of spring-engagingmembers surrounding said standards and pivoted to said lugs, said cross-arm being provided with Cain surfaces in Contact with stationary means on said standards whereby on movement of said cross arm about its pivots in one direction, said springs will be suddenly released, said springs being adapted to be restored to their original condition by moving said cross arm in the opposite direction.

2. In a clothes-wringer, a frame, a pair of rolls mounted in said frame, a pair of standards connected to said frame, helical springs surrounding said standards for pressing said rolls together, a cross arm extending between said standards, a pair of lugs on said cross arm, a pair of spring-engaging members surrounding said standards and pivote-d to said lugs, said cross arm being provided with cam surfaces for engaging stationary means on said standards whereby on movement of said cross arm about its pivots, said springs will be suddenly released.

In testimony whereof, I have affixed my signature to this specification.

STEPHEN RONA. 

